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By Karen J. Bannan

It’s been a summer of social gaffes. Most recently, pop singer Robin Thicke was the casualty of a giant PR blunder. Television network VH1 created a hashtag — #AskThicke – and asked the Twitterverse to send in their questions for the Blurred Lines crooner. The result was both hysterical (if you’re not Thicke or the VH1 PR team) and something that serves as a cautionary tale.

By Karen J. Bannan

This summer members of the House of Representatives are engaging in two separate social media contests designed to improve social media standing on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Democratic members are duking it out on Instagram as well.

By Karen J. Bannan

Last year I interviewed Col. Steve Sobotta, the then-CIO of the U.S. Army War College, an educational organization that grants degrees in strategic studies. Its students are military and civilians who hold or will hold positions that relate to national security objectives. Bottom line: The students rule the world — literally.

By Karen J. Bannan

It is the type of news story that takes social media by storm. Facebook conducted an experiment with more than 700,000 users, deliberately altering news feeds so they appeared mostly positive or mostly negative. Dubbed by some as massive virtual mind game, the 2012 experiment designed to see if a news feed can spread emotions went viral once news broke.

By Karen J. Bannan

Twitter this month acquired a small startup, SnappyTV, that lets people edit and share television clips. According to the social media giant’s blog, the move was important so that it is “… easy for TV broadcasters, businesses, and event producers to share high-quality videos.”

By Karen J. Bannan

There’s been a lot of talk about how social media has changed recruiting and hiring. Sites like LinkedIn make it easier to go out and find the right candidate – especially those who may not be looking for a new position. Meanwhile, services like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram help human resources figure out if the candidate they’re about to make a six-figure offer to is going to embarrass the organization or become a toxic plume in a company talent pool. But social media’s impact on the HR department doesn’t stop there. Indeed, it’s becoming embedded in the thread of the department, helping HR do everything from empowering the business to improving sales to boosting customer loyalty and satisfaction, according to a recent IBM study, New Expectations for a New Era: CHRO insights from the Global C-suite.

By Karen J. Bannan

As a journalist and blogger, I know the best way to get someone to follow you on Twitter or Facebook is to curate great content. Whether it’s sharing an interesting news article, infographic or white paper, I know people will not only follow me but share my tweets and posts – and comment on my LinkedIn posts – if they contain relevant information. In fact, whenever I sit down to update my own Twitter and Facebook feeds, I first spend time looking around for content.

By Karen J. Bannan

The U.S. Secret Service this month put out a request for social media analytics software that could help it identify social media influencers and trends. The RFP, which can be downloaded here, included a laundry list of requirements such as the capability to detect historical Twitter data as well as the “ability to detect sarcasm and false positives.” Another item on the wish list: The ability to “create custom reports without involving IT specialists.”